The Patent Advisory Group concluded that the inventive step claimed by US
Patent Nr. 5,764,992 lies in the fact that the software program can update
itself absolutely independent of functions performed by any resource external
to the current software program. As the Widgets 1.0:
Updates Draft uses an update-manager throughout the Specification, such
self-updating does not occur.

Introduction

The W3C Patent Policy sets a goal for Working Groups to produce
specifications implementable under the W3C Royalty free terms. Patent Advisory
Groups are W3C's response to a threat to this goal, and are created when such
threats occur. They examine the situation, provide a platform for negotiations,
and end with a recommendation to W3C and the Working Group. This report
concludes the activities of the Widgets Updates PAG.

The Group was correctly chartered. The First Public Working Draft of the Widgets 1.0:
Updates Specification was correctly announced and triggered the above
exclusion opportunity. Apple, as a Member of the WebApps Working Group, was
entitled to an exclusion statement. Apple's exclusion statement was issued
in time and is valid.

Apple attended the first call and recused themselves from any further
participation or comment. Several subsequent attempts to get statements about
the 992 patent were unfruitful. The PAG created a page
on prior art from contributions of its members. On 12 June 2009 the PAG issued a call for prior art. Subsequently, the PAG received
feedback on its archived public
mailing list. Some of the feedback was received by the chair only and was
sent to the public mailing list without identifying the contributor.

In conclusion: Apple made a valid exclusion and the PAG was created
following the relevant rules. There were no issues with the procedure.

Conclusions

PAG Recommendations

Taking into account the wide variety of information made available to the
PAG, the following recommendations are given:

The WebApps Working Group should change the widgetupdate
function name to updateinfo

The WebApps Working Group should change the update element
name to updatedescription

In section 11, the WebApps Working Group should change the sentence that
says It is conceivable that the automatic update model could be subject
to a man-in-the-middle-attack... to say Because it is not
self-contained, it is conceivable that the automatic update model could be
subject to a man-in-the-middle attack...

The WebApps Working Group should change all occurrences of
widget.update() to
checkForUpdate()

The WebApps Working Group should change all occurrences of Updating
via widget.update() to Update-checking via
checkForUpdate

The WebApps Working Group should change all occurrences of [Uu]pdating
strategy to [Uu]pdate-checking strategy

In the Prosecution documents of the US
Patent Nr. 5,764,992, the examiner issued a first rejection against the 992
patent application. After some negotiation between Apple and the USPTO, the
USPTO accepted to grant the patent only on the condition that the software
application program to be updated can replace itself with an updated version
independent of any external mechanisms. Detecting,
determining and replacing and subsequently executing are
well-known according to the examiner. Thus patent 992 covers only those cases,
in which all those steps are executed by the software application itself.
Various other sources provided in response to the call for prior art, going
back to as far as the Seventies, confirm this reading. The earliest technology
(about 1978) reported was the firmware
update of a Programmable Logic Controller in industry controls. The PAG did
not examine whether those reports of prior art could potentially invalidate the
patent 992. The PAG only considered that in light of the prior art received, in
light of the prosecution documents and in light of the Widget Updates
Specification Draft of 07 October 2008, the 992 patent is considered not
essential, thus not necessarily infringed by a conforming implementation of the
aforementioned Draft.

In fact, the whole concept of widgets, javascript and Web 2.0 wasn't known
in 1995 when the patent was filed. Widgets are not self contained software
applications. They depend on the web platform thus on either an update manager
or a browser that serves as a platform. A widget designed in accordance with Widget Updates
Specification Draft of 07 October 2008 is always dependent on an external
resource such as a browser or some other update manager. But updating the
widget is not updating the browser software. A logical implication of this
architecture is that a widget compliant with the Widget Updates
Specification Draft of 07 October 2008 will not infringe the 992 patent as
it is impossible for a widget to replace or update itself without the aid of an
external mechanism.

Consequently, the 992 patent is considered not essential to the
Specification examined.

Disclaimer

THESE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE PATENT ADVISORY GROUP ARE NOT LEGAL ADVICE.
NEITHER W3C NOR ANY OF THE PARTICIPANTS OF THE WIDGET UPDATES PATENT ADVISORY
GROUP OR THEIR RESPECTIVE EMPLOYERS TAKES ANY RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE ACCURACY,
LEGAL CORRECTNESS OR OTHER FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE OF THE INFORMATION PROVIDED
IN THIS REPORT. ESPECIALLY, NEITHER W3C NOR ANY OF THE PARTICIPANTS OF THE
WIDGET UPDATES PATENT ADVISORY GROUP OR ANY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE EMPLOYERS MAKE
ANY REPRESENTATION THAT FOLLOWING THE RECOMMENDATIONS HERE WILL AVOID AN
INFRINGEMENT OF THE US PATENT NR. 5,764,992 OR ANY OTHER PATENT MENTIONED IN
THE REPORT OR THE PAGE ON PRIOR ART.